Dilworth's Early History 1890-1911
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Dilworth's Early History 1890-1911 By Dan L. Morrill The early history of Dilworth is intimately associated with the career of Edward Dilworth Latta. In October, 1876, traveling salesman Latta moved from New York City to Charlotte and established E. D. Latta and Brothers, a men's clothing store.1 Apparently, the enterprising haberdasher was attracted by the vigorous economic climate in Charlotte and the prospects for making money. Latta's impact on the Queen City, however, was to go far beyond that engendered by his clothing business. Until his departure in May, 1923, Latta played a pivotal role in the transformation of the city from a modest commercial center of 7,094 inhabitants in 1880 into an industrial and financial metropolis of the Piedmont in 1920, boasting a population of 46,338.2 In large measure, Latta was typical of the new class of investors, industrialists, and businessmen who arose in North Carolina and the South following the Civil War. As exponents of a "New South," such men became convinced that future wealth in the region lay not in agriculture but in industrialization and urbanization, and they took advantage of the new economic opportunities afforded by the growth of manufacturing and the rise of sizable urban areas. Latta's accomplishments provide an instructive example of how these assertive and ambitious entrepreneurs operated in the cities of North Carolina in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.3 Edward Dilworth Latta In 1883 he founded the Charlotte Trouser Company, which manufactured men's trousers for distribution throughout the South. Having achieved Latta was born near Pendleton, South Carolina, in 1851 and after the Civil War attended Princeton University prior to becoming a representative of men's clothing financial success with his Charlotte clothing enterprises, Latta launched a series of bold investment ventures that made a significant contribution to the growth and development of the Queen City.4 On July 8,1890, Latta joined with Mayor F. B. McDowell and four other residents of Charlotte to create the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company, locally known as the Four Cs.5 With Latta as president and principal driving force of the company, these investors hoped to profit from the surge of industry, especially textiles, which seemed destined for Charlotte. Their plan was to develop a suburb, named Dilworth, where they intended to sell lots and residences to the city's burgeoning industrial population, which composed the essential work force for the expanding industries. The manufacturing promise of Charlotte already had revealed itself in the 1880s when the Charlotte Cotton Mills, the town's first cotton mill (1881), Latta's 1883 trouser company, and the Alpha Cotton Mills (1889) had begun operations. The founders of the Four Cs supported their project with the rhetoric of urban boosterism and characterized their undertaking as the "inaugural movement in the march of improvement" that would set Charlotte "aglow with the spirit of enterprise." On March 14, 1891, they announced that they had "no doubts about the possibilities of Charlotte. We have anticipated her doubling yea trebling her population in the near future."6 For their new community of Dilworth, the partners purchased 442 level and treeless acres south of Charlotte. The "large number of hands with mules and carts" that began to grade and excavate the site on September 12, 1890, built the road network for the suburb with relative ease. The unpaved streets, 60 feet wide, were arranged in a grid, intersecting at right angles. The major artery was the boulevard with a width of 100 feet. Block-long alleys provided vehicles with access to the rear of the lots, which ranged in depth from 100 to 250 feet.7 To connect their suburb with the city as well as to reap additional profits from fares, Latta and his associates decided to build a streetcar system between downtown Charlotte and Dilworth. Having purchased the city's old horse-drawn cars, the Four Cs in February, 1891, contracted with the Edison Electric Company for $40,000 to install new electric trolley lines principally to serve Dilworth. The developers formed a subsidiary company, the Charlotte Railway Company, to manage the streetcar system.8 Initially, the railway company operated two trolley lines, which intersected in the heart of Charlotte at the square, where Trade Street and Tryon Street meet. One, the crosstown line, extended from the Richmond and Danville Railroad Depot (later Southern Railway) on West Trade Street to McDowell Street on the eastern boundary of Charlotte; the other, the main line, reached from the Carolina Central Railroad Depot (later Seaboard Air Line Railroad) on North Tryon Street southward to Dilworth. At the outset, the Charlotte Street Railway Company operated three trolleys on the Dilworth run and one on the crosstown line between 6:30 A.M. and 11:00 p.m.9 The introduction of electric streetcars or trolleys onto the streets of Charlotte captured the attention and enthusiasm of the citizens. The first electric streetcar departed from the square at 3:00 p.m. on May 18, 1891, and headed toward Dilworth, a "great and jolly crowd" cheering it along. The Morning Star of Wilmington described the reaction of the public when the entire system went into operation two days later: "The streets and yards fairly swarmed with people, each hurrahing and waving as the car passed along. Bouquets were sent to adorn the car with, and every one was wild with joy."10 To assist in making settlement in Dilworth more attractive and to promote streetcar travel, the Four Cs constructed a recreational area, named Latta Park, at the end of the trolley line in Dilworth. The company hired Joseph Forsyth Johnston, a landscape architect, to design and supervise the construction of a lake for boating, a lily pad pond, a series of fountains, terraced flower gardens, and a network of meandering paths and drives. Latta Park became a favorite retreat for the residents of Charlotte even before Dilworth officially opened. On April 27, 1891, the Charlotte News described the scene at the park on the previous Sunday afternoon: "The winding walks and drives were thronged all the afternoon, and scores of promenaders could be seen coming in from the park. On the boulevard there were probably a hundred turnouts while the lakeside, flower gardens and groves were dotted with pedestrians." The Daily State Chronicle of Raleigh called Latta Park the "most magnificent spot of its kind in the South." The Morning Star of Wilmington urged the citizens of its community to open a similar recreational facility.11 The Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company used a series of innovative marketing techniques to attract prospective buyers to Dilworth for the grand opening on May 20, 1891. Salesmen traveled to other towns to spread the word about the new suburb. A "great pyrotechnic display" and a balloon ascension were scheduled for the evening of the twentieth, and the company arranged for a baseball game between a team from Winston and one from Columbia, South Carolina. The most imaginative promotional gimmick was the placement of a deed in a tin box, which was then suspended from a small balloon and launched at the end of the fireworks show. Whoever found the deed when the box fell to earth became the owner of the Dilworth parcel recorded on the document.12 P. B. and E. A. Akers, professional auctioneers from Knoxville, Tennessee, commenced the Dilworth land sale at 11:00 a.m. The mood of the crowd was festive as the auctioneers moved from lot to lot, standing in the rear of a buggy while it passed along the streets of the suburb. Two thousand buyers and onlookers followed "in hacks and buggies, on horseback and on foot, [some] with maps in hand eagerly bidding for ground." Prices ranged from an average of $7.00 to $10.00 a front foot or from $350 to $500 per lot. Buyers had to make a down payment of at least 25 percent of the purchase price and pay the residual obligation in no more than three annual installments.13 The prospects for Dilworth appeared bright. In May, 1891, 78 lots were sold to 47 individuals, 36 of whom lived in Charlotte or Mecklenburg County. "No better evidence of the faith the people have in the future of the city could be desired than in the way this suburban ground is selling," the Charlotte News exclaimed. On May 29, 1891, Latta announced that the construction of a "large number of new and attractive residences" was about to begin.14 Despite these propitious beginnings Dilworth was not an immediate success. The Four Cs did sell seventeen additional lots in the suburb from June, 1891, until the end of the year, but except for conveying a parcel to its trolley subsidiary, the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company did not sell any lots in Dilworth during the first nine months of 1892. Undaunted, Latta continued to invest large amounts of money in the suburb, especially for facilities in Latta Park. A pavilion, bowling alley, boathouse, shooting gallery, and baseball grandstand were erected in the spring of 1892.15 But the addition of these amenities could not obscure the fact that Latta and his partners were in financial trouble. The first change in the Four Cs' fortune occurred on July 24, 1892, when the D. A. Tompkins Company, named for its founder and president, Daniel Augustus Tompkins, announced that it would build the Atherton Cotton Mills just south of Dilworth.16 Construction began on August 23, 1892, and moved forward expeditiously until the factory, which manufactured yarn, went into full operation in April, 1893.